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Post Category: In the Media, page #6

Holistic Health Extension pet product company, based in Deer Park, N.Y., announced the promotion of Brad Gruber to president and COO. Gruber joined the family-owned organization in 2004 upon his graduation from the University at Albany where he earned a BS in Finance & Management. Since then, he held positions of increasing responsibility in all areas of the company before being named COO in 2011.

During his tenure as COO, Gruber is credited with taking a small, local pet food line and turning it into an international line of award-winning nutritional and health support products, according to the company.

Holistic Health Extension has added three experience pet industry professionals to their national sales team.

Stew Omar has taken on the role of California territory sales manager. Omar is a 20-year veteran in the pet specialty channel. He most recently served as California territory sales manager with Mars Pet Care. Prior to that, he spent most of his career with Procter & Gamble and the Iams Company in a number of sales capacities ranging from account manager to managing their influencer and breeder business.

Health Extension Pet Care has been busy. In the last 12 months the New York-based premium holistic pet food company has launched three new grain-free formulas under the name Allergix, focusing on the needs of allergy-sensitive pets in the market. The line’s latest formula, Buffalo, Whitefish & Chickpea, has been the most successful product launch in the company’s history. Over the last five years, Health Extension has consistently maintained a 25% annual growth rate—a trend that has continued throughout 2015 so far. And in March 2015, the company officially changed its name from “Vets Choice,” aiming to evolve its brand and better align itself with its new mission statement.

“Our name change and new mission statement were more of an evolution than a change,” says Brad Gruber, chief operating officer of Health Extension Pet Care. “They go back to the reason we started the company: not to have an investment fund buy us out, not to be just another brand on the shelf, but to provide our retailers with outstanding products they can trust. As both shoppers and retailers have come to trust the Health Extension name over time, it made sense to move our whole brand in that direction.”

The company’s new mission statement, says Gruber, is simple yet genuine, getting to the heart of what Health Extension stands for: “Our family is dedicated to providing independent pet store owners with foods they can be proud to sell as their own,” says the statement. “By committing to the finest holistic ingredients at the best possible price, we give pets the nutrition they need—and retailers the competitive advantage they need to thrive.”

The grain-free movement has shifted from a health food fad to an expectation among many dog owners. While the origin of the grain-free trend among human health started with a combination of celebrity fad diets and an awareness of gluten sensitivity, the grain-free trend in pet food trickled down from there and gained momentum with the pet food scares of 2007.
According to Brian Alt, manager of Concord Pet Food & Supplies in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the grainfree category is more popular than ever. That demand has led his store to carry more grain-free products than anything else.
“It’s not like people come in and ask for grain-free food,” he explained. “Now it’s kind of odd when somebody doesn’t buy it. We get a lot more people switching over to raw foods, freeze-dried, frozen, dehydrated—and they’re all grainfree.”